Hot Blast Stoves

Along one side of the Water Tower Plaza are six tall, cylindrical Hot Blast Stoves. Five are in a row with the sixth around the corner creating an 'L' shape.
These stoves heated the air before it was pumped into the Blast Furnace. The stoves consist of steel shells lined with heat-resistant bricks,
and filled with a tall lattice of fire-brick called "checkers." Waste gas from the Furnace would be burned in the stove to heat the "checkers."
The gas was then shut off and the air was blown through the stoves. The hot "checkers" heated the air to 1,400 degrees, and large pipes carried the hot air to the Furnace.